Cover me up
by Draconismin
Summary: Saiki and Kuboyasu figured out a different use of the cloth wrapped around Kaidou's hands. They didn't like that one bit.
1. Chapter 1

"Saiki, can I have a word with you? Just a moment" Kuboyasu put his hand on the psychic's shoulder, calmly said. Saiki nodded, following him to the classroom door and into the corridor.

So he also noticed, huh?

They stepped in silence for awhile, the former delinquent lost in thoughts, eyes hidden by his pair of glasses, hands clenched into fist. Waiting till nobody was in sight, Kuboyasu turned around, face became serious.

"Who the fuck dare to lay their filthy hands on him?" The words were filled with murderous intent. And Saiki almost sighed, tempted to let Kuboyasu unleashed his revenge on whoever stupid enough to mess with their blue-haired friend. The purple-haired teenager always had short-temper when Kaidou was involved. Cleaning the murder scene would be a breeze to him, but the missing persons would cause too much unnecessary attention.

So, no killing then.

Saiki read through furious Kuboyasu's mind and mused. Some were _how dare he think he can keep his wounds hidden from me_ and _Don't you think avoiding me and I don't know_ or _I will kill them_

On this sunny Friday morning, everything seems to be in place as they used to. Teruhashi was still graced everybody with her goddess aura. Nendou talked about ramen while Hairo energetically worked out on the floor. Yumehara mumbled something about love and destiny. Kaidou showed up later than normal, smiling apologetically, mouth sprouting nonsense stuffs like Dark Reunion ate his book (huh?). Yet throughout the day, he seems stiff, and winced slightly every time he moved or his hands had to touch something. It were just a subtle signs and normally could be passed as his nerdy usual self. But those streams of thoughts like They mustn't know repetitively easily caught Saiki's attention. Before he could do anything about it, the bell rang and Kaidou bolted outside the classroom, mumbling about using the restroom

"Kuboyasu, even you asked him, I doubted he would have spilled" Saiki said. He could use his power, but at school he was bombarded with every student's thoughts. And Kaidou's mind was frantic just now, so he doubted that his friend would thought about his bullies. The pink-haired boy still used clairvoyance to check on his friend regardless, and found out he was hiding in the restroom, fingers fidgeting nervously with his red ragged cloth, breathing rapidly. His thought was clear

_What should I do?_

"He clearly was beaten and tried to hide it. Fuck. If I had known.."

You wouldn't, so please shut up.

"Why didn't he tell us?"

Kaidou was always the easy target. He was weak, fragile, had a heavy case of chuunibyou, hard-working, and came from a well-off family. He also put too much trust in others. So much qualities that attracted the wrong type of people. Although he had been stubborn about it. Like at the moment, his sense of misplaced bravery was likely the cause for his avoidance.

When they were mugged months ago, Saiki abandoned him, prepared to brush off this troublesome chihuahua and ended the friendship once and for all. Yet the first thought he received from the boy was relief that he was safe, instead of being heartbroken or betrayed. It was nice, a little bit unexpected to find out Kudou only wanted to befriend him. Saiki was all set to use his power at that time, if not for Kuboyasu. Fortunately.

More so, even though Kaidou had witnessed the former delinquent's brawl. He was still told him to run instead of calling out for help. Stubborn Kaidou. What a moron.

But now, experienced with exchanging blows, the former delinquent instantly noticed the subtle changes in the chuunibyou without difficulty. It wasn't hard for him to imagine what happened. Finding the culprit, on the other hands... The psychic doubted it was because of those manipulated Kaidou for homework. He made sure of that already

Ara ara, so it all lead to this, huh..

He and Kuboyasu followed Kaidou when school ended, ignoring Nendou's request to eat ramen. The blue-haired boy, again, bolted out as soon as possible. Saiki could think of various methods to extract the information out of his close friend, though following him seems like the fastest way at the moment. He frowned as Kaidou turned left when he reached a corner

"That's not the direction to his house" Kuboyasu mumbled, recognized the road to factory area.

Located on the southeastern part of the city, that particular place had the cheapest rent and also was the most dangerous place. This does not end well.

_I have to be hurry_

Made sure nobody was following him ("He's terrible at that" His so-called stalkers mused), he stopped in front of a gangster, hands nervously holding out a stack of paper money.

"Here, I already brought it." _So leave me alone._ The words were unspoken due to fear. He thought it was evident enough.

The bulky leader of the gang took the money with ease, licking his finger to count them. They were all seemingly bored, and older than him. Kaidou figured this was his chance to leave, but before he could take a step back, another guy grabbed him on the shoulder and pulled him close.

"Go so soon?" He grinned, "I'm hurt"

"Hey. You got the money. Let me go" Kaidou replied, trying to be tough

"Why? We were having so much fun yesterday" The delinquent had a hold of his hand, and Saiki widened his eyes.

"What are you doing-" Kaidou winced when his bandage was unwrapped, revealing numerous yellow and purple bruises, along with small band aids and dirty blood-stained white bandages which were applied clumsily on the arms.

The psychic put a hand on the strangely quiet Kuboyasu, preventing him from punching a hole in the wall and risked the gangster aware of their presence so soon.

Not yet.

"Let see. I wondered you could still covered your face with your hands this time. If you don't want another mark of paper cutter knife." They laughed "Pathetic"

_Think they are tough and try to protect their pretty faces...fuck...This brat pissed me off...Though he still hided his face when I carved on his arms...bitch..Probably use his face to pick up chicks_

Saiki could hear their thoughts altogether, and it disgusted him

"Psst, whatever" The chuunibyou tensed for a moment then pretending to snort. He brushed the delinquent off, walked away, tried to cover his injuries for no use.

"I'm going" _Crap what if they hold me down? I had to run. Crap crap should I turn around to pick up my cloth? I don't want mama to see my wounds. Maybe if I try to sneak in my room fast she wouldn't noticed_

Kaidou panicked, trying to get out of this situation. Without notice, the delinquent forceful pressed his hand on the blue-haired boy's shoulder, and he immediately collapsed, his body struggled from the bone-jotting pain from all the bruises.

"We beat the shit out of you yesterday" The leader smirked, money already tucked safely in his pant pocket "Don't you dare think we can't do it again"

They didn't care about stealing money, they were just sadistic dicks who liked to inflict pain on somebody else. Mugging was just an added bonus

"What the hell" The blue-haired boy blurted "You got what you want, let me go"

"We want a punching bag." The leader said with a bored tone, lying with a straight face "Your money wasn't even enough to buy a cheap one. Guess that I had to use replacement then"

He held up his hand near the scared boy, and cackled while Kaidou flinched violently.

"Or we could beat up the pink-haired freak instead, huh?" Smirked._ Always effective, brats tried to be heroes and fucked up for their friends. Weakest of the bunch though._

_No_

"Don't touch him, bastards!" He bit back, only to be smashed down with somebody's fist, motionless

_Fuck I went overbroad. Regardless, such a weakass_

String of images appeared vividly inside Kuboyasu's head. An image of Kaidou, wretched and injured on the ground, arms drenched with sticky red liquid, curled up to protect himself. Kaidou, eyes wet with tears from the torment, struggled to pick himself up and went home while his body was burning with every step. Kaidou, shakily cleaned and tried to band aid by himself and wrapped his new cloth on his arms so that nobody could discover the wounds.

At that point, Saiki didn't care whether the recollection the former delinquent had was accidental use of forced telepathy or not. He doubted that the other noticed

The reason Kaidou went to such length to hide was because of **him**? Was this chunnibyou stupid?

Him? Of all people?

He rolled his eyes while the former delinquent knocked a hole in the brick wall, just like he suspected, successfully gained everybody's attention. Kuboyasu looked beyond pissed, like a wrathful demon just been summoned out of the blue.

"Another one?" _Fine, they're no fun if they are unresponsive anyway. _The leader spoke up "Hey brat. Your friend owed us 50 thousand yen. Got anything to pay?"

The purple-haired boy stepped slowly forward, knocked out those that tried to move up stop him. Hand pulled up to stop an unknown guy's fist thrown at him, Kuboyasu recognized the guy who pulled off Shun's bandages.

He made sure to grab it so tight that the bones fractured, paid no mind to the scream.

The gang was absolutely vivid. One faced twelve? How could it be possible? Who was this guy? The leader face's turned into completely shock when Kuboyasu came near. Kuboyasu grabbed his head and slammed it down the hard ground with the force of steel.

"I certainly can pay for him" He said, irritated "Just make sure you alive after I finished paying"

One guy escaped, hissing at his broken arm. He pulled out his phone, fingers shakily pressed the buttons, preparing to call for backup. That fucker could be tough, but even he can't deal with the sheer number of his gang

"Oi. Bastards! Come-" That all he could managed to say before the line went dead. "What-"

He gasped when the sky suddenly turned dark, and in front of him, a teenager appeared, his gaze and smile so callous that it made his blood ran cold, like he had met an apex predator.

"You laid your hands on an psychic's possession. I hope you're prepared for the consequences."

And if nobody came or noticed any screaming around this road, it was probably because of the loud roaring sound of the factories, or Saiki's power. Who know?

He really disliked being disturbed.

Feeling his rage died down somewhat, Saiki went back, turned a blind eye to the brutal state of the bullies. On second thoughts, nice work. Now, just a little curse so that they wouldn't dare to come to Kaidou for revenge, just in case.

Finished his job, he returned to Kuboyasu's place, whom only just clean the blood off his glasses and glanced down at the unconscious boy.

It's a bloody miracle that Kaidou didn't twitch a finger during all this sound

"God, he's a mess" The former delinquent sighed and picked up his friend in his arms.

_Serve him right, got himself in this trouble. _

Saiki thought, gesturing Kuboyasu to carry the boy to his house. His parent went out, Kaidou's house was out of the question and he doubted Kuboyasu's would be anything ordinary. It was not like he had any choices in the matter.

—

He was in a mixed state of bliss and agony.

He was being embraced and carried. The person's touch gentle on his skin. His whole body itself was uncomfortable. He guessed because he hadn't taken great care of his injuries the day before. It wasn't like anyone could master the art of band-aids by looking it up the internet in one night. But who was he? He was Jet Black Wing. It was not like he couldn't handle them.

_Oh boy._ Saiki mused

His groggily memories returned back. He was being assaulted by the bullies. And he collapsed. While he fainted, judging from the screaming, his power must be unsealed and unleashed..

He opened his eyes, and Kuboyasu looked down while carrying him, happily greeted

"Shun, you're awake"

"You!" Kaidou shouted, heartbroken

"Er? Me?"

_Congratulations for breaking his illusions. Again, good job._ Saiki mused again, standing beside Kuboyasu, a tiny smile visible on his lips.

"...nothing" Kaidou sulked, his imaginary fight completely shattered, then turned bewildered. His situation registered clearly in his head "Wait?! How did you guys know?"

"About that, we will need to have a little talk after your wounds had been taken care off, Shun" Kuboyasu's look became stern, his grip on his blue-haired friend tighten.

Immediately, Kaidou turned uneasy, squirming uselessly to get out of the other's embrace without avail. Seeing that Kuboyasu weren't going to leave him go that easily for hiding his problem, he turned to Saiki for help, only to find out the other looked back at him, completely emotionless, yet he felt like a defenseless lamb in front of a scary wolf

_Traitor!_

The blue-haired boy yelped and tried to buried his face into the former delinquent's chest, hope for the best.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaidou shifted in Aren's arm, visible sign of being anxious. After all, it didn't take much time for him to figure out that they didn't decide to go to his house, which could be understandable. His mother was so gonna flipped out when she saw him skipping his supplemental class and participating in fight. Class... class!

"What's the time now?! I was supposed to be in Math class tonight!" He jolted, struggling to get up.

"There's no way we can let you go to class in this state" Aren shook his head in disbelief. Having used to the life of normal civilians to some extent, at least he knew that nobody in their right mind would prefer studying over treating their wounds.

_Although he wasn't the one you should considered normal._ Saiki supposed. _We all did_

"But still.." Kaidou grimaced, hoping that the teacher wouldn't call his mother for tonight absence. He opened his mouth again, only to give up when met with their emotionless stares, leaving no room for objection. Gotta admit, they were way scarier than the thugs he faced yesterday.

_You think? _Saiki poker faced.

Maybe he shouldn't try to hide his situation. Although, the thugs had seen him walking with his friends after all. They could try to threaten them. He hadn't worried about Aren or Nendou much, as those two were a force to be reckoned with. Unlike his pathetic ass, Aren was strong. And Nendou was, well, Nendou.

But there was also Saiki. The pink-haired male was quiet and reliable. Always be there for his friends despite his reluctance. Even he didn't show, Saiki cared a lot for the people around him. Saiki was.. his first friend. So he'd rather let himself be beaten up than letting people bully Saiki if he could help it.

_Except I was weak._ Kaidou bit his lips. He was lanky. Not muscular. Awkward. Not smooth. He knew he was a chuunibyou, an embarrassing one at that. He didn't know why people choose to put up with him at times. Some days he just wanted to hide under the matress and wondered all the ways that one could die from shame.

_But they chose to stay beside him._ A sudden blush appeared itself on his cheek when the thought popped up out of the blue, butterflies fluttering in his stomach. That was true. He never figured out when or why their peculiar relationship started. They deserved better and he-

_They chose to stay with him._ The voice in his head murmured again, cutting his thoughts and he could feel his feet curled up in feverish joy

—-

They reached Saiki's house. Kuboyasu held Kaidou in his arms, waiting while Saiki unlocked the door. As the psychic expected, the house was empty. His parents had gone out to have dinner together like a newlywed couple on their anniversary. Lovely.

Saiki leaded them to his bedroom then disappeared to find a band aid kit while Kuboyasu dropped Kaidou on the bed. His family didn't have any use for the kit before, trust Kusuo treating for them with ease. Yet he couldn't use his power in front of his friends. So he settled for going downstairs and teleported to his grandparents' house to borrow it.

"Take off your clothes" Kuboyasu said, touching the other's arm to observe the extend of the wounds, his brows furrowed slightly when he noticed the anguish look on Kaidou's face.

"I can use a little bit of help" Kaidou chuckled "Please?"

It wasn't like he couldn't manage it himself. But if look could murder, he would be long dead right now. It wasn't like Aren could take a good hold of his temper. Tedious time of being delinquent made him easy to be provoked, with all the guys trying to defeat him, to no avail.

Aren's grim mood softened. He helped him to unbutton his shirt and took off his jacket, his touch gentle. He still eyed the injured arms.

Wait. Kaidou briefly remembered something. Shit.

His hands shot up, tried to cover his body, but the damage was done

"Fuck." Swearing when he stared at the dark purple color revealed on Kaidou's torso and lower body, Kuboyasu was vivid. His jaw clenched. He knew that the bullies had beaten the blue-haired boy all over, the arms being proof. Thus the beating was so rough that his friend could collapse from being pressed down, but to the point that he only saw the hideous redish purple and yellow covered every inch of that soft pale skin? On Shun? His Shun? The boy had never fought once in his life. Even whimpered from the force of his confident handshake when they first became friends months ago.

"Wait here. I'm gonna come back and fucking kill them for real" He stood up, the vein on his face throbbing. In a brief moment he felt Kaidou tucking on the edge of his shirt

"I honestly have no idea what you did but I think you don't have to do that again" Kaidou whimpered. He didn't see the exact scene in the alley, having fainted and all, but he had witnessed the former delinquent fought before. The bloodshed was terrifying for sure. "Besides, I am the force of darkness. I can handle the Dark Reunion. This doesn't even graze me a bit"

Aren snorted. More like fluff ball of darkness.

"I bet you do" He responded dryly, sat down instead. Until a soft click distracted him and the purple-haired male turned around "Saiki. You're back. What took you so long?"

Saiki went in with a box of first aid. He raised his eyebrows with the unfolded scene in front of him, then transferred the kit to Kuboyasu without words.

"You should have told us" Aren was upset. He had gotten used with taking care of the wounds. Learning the basic band-aid was the first lesson he ever received from his parents, while beating the thugs up was kinda something you used to in the hostile environment.

Yet he never thought that he would treat somebody with the utmost care, like mending back the cracked porcelain vase. The delinquents took care of the injuries on their own. Not others, and for certain not with gentleness.  
"Yeah." Kaidou avoided looking at them out of guilt. "Sorry"  
"It's okay. Just.. you scared me. I think you manage to scare Saiki too" Aren's flat voice made Kaidou left out a laugh and Saiki rolled his eyes.  
But then..  
_Yeah. I was scared. _The psychic thought back. _Even now, sitting here and do nothing_

It was almost funny. How he could destroy the world with his abilities and couldn't do anything without revealing his power. He had made mistake, once, in the kindergarten. Mistake that have him erased the memory of Akechi, wiping out their friendship forever, never could be restored.

_One day I will tell them. One day _  
Later, giving in to the puppy-eyed look and small whining, Saiki found himself on the bed, Kaidou's bandaged hands wrapped around him, clung on for dear life as his quivering torso being treated by Kuboyasu.

"Ouch! Ohmygod!" The boy yelped. His pain tolerance he had before seemed to disappear as he wailed "Be gentle! Ouch! I'll never do it again! I swear!"

—

The boys knew better than making comments at Kaidou when he arrived at school the next day, his sudden thick gauze on lower arms was noticed by Teruhashi. As the girl tried to be nice and concerned and asked about the cause, Kaidou painted a exaggerated story about Jet Black Wing's heroic fight with yakuza, successful making his classmates crowded around him in awe.

Kuboyasu and Saiki sighed. _They_ should have known better.

—

"Shun, promise me." The blue-haired boy startled, almost choked on his lunch that afternoon. He looked to the left, only to find the former delinquent's determined eyes. "Talk to us if you get hurt"

"Er.."

"If he doesn't, I'll make sure he talk" The intangible threat of the psychic was soundless like his voice, but all of them understood it without doubts

"S-sure!" Kaidou gulped. How come Saiki could be way, way scarier? Aren was a delinquent for crying out loud!

_  
Please R&R ^^


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